Friday, March 15, 2013

Work Box Addict: Intervention Needed!!!


Hello, My name is Erin, and I'm an addict. . . I just can not STOP obsessing over and creating new work boxes!!!!!  Here is what $65 at the Dollar Tree will buy you:













In case you are wondering, this is enough to make approximately 10 boxes!!!

Here are a few of the boxes I made today(Didn't take pics of entire job, hopefully these pics will give a good enough idea of the purpose):

Easter Egg package: (comes with enough eggs/cartons to make 10 packages)
 



Frog Hop Game (enough frogs/ponds to make 10 packages; Students have to choose the correct colors and then put all into a baggie)











Candle Package (enough to make 8 different colored packs)











Baby Ring Assembly: (Enough to make 10 rings; Students must first get correct colors then put together)
 



Toothbrush Pack: (Enough to make 5)
 




Food Package:  (Students must look at the written list and then find the food items and put into a bag)
 



Screwdriver Package: (Color coded screwdrivers; put into container; enough to make 10)
 


I got so carried away making things that I forgot to take pictures of the rest.  Seriously guys, INTERVENTION needed!!!!!  :)


Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Where do you come up with your work box ideas??

Today I met with a friend and we worked all day making new materials for her classroom.  During our time together, she said "where do you come up with all these ideas" more than once.  I figured maybe I should share where I get some of my best ideas.  Hint. . . I steal them!!
Below is an extensive list of sites where I have gone to get ideas for new work boxes.  I kind of have an obsession for making them and I am always looking for something new to make.  If you have other places you go to, please let me know!

Websites (some commercial, some blogs, some random)


Pinterest boards:

Preposition Practice

I have multiple students who are working on prepositions.  I search for ways that the students can practice their newly learned prepositions independently.  To do so, I have created a few very simple tasks where they can follow the written preposition directions.  You can grab these for free here:
Over, Under, On
Above, Below, On
Between, Left of, Right of
Print out each page, laminate and add velcro.  I bind the pages into a book so that students can practice a set of prepositions at one time and then it can be checked.

In addition, here are some additional resources I have found that I use:
Source Unknown:
Fat cat flies
Where is Fat Cat?

*Free on Chapel Hill Snippets
angry birds over and between printable
the lonely reindeer printable


 *Free on Boardmaker Share

Polar Animals Preposition Interactive Activity


*Purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers


Do you have any favorite preposition practice activities?

Sunday, March 3, 2013

STAAR-ALT antonym and homophone activities

I have been swamped at work.  The life skills teacher quit 4 weeks ago and they are unable to find a replacement.  This means that I have had to take over her kiddos for ELA and Social Studies.  It has been wonderful and difficult all at the same time.  My caseload has doubled and I have had to learn all new levels of students.  In addition, I've gotten to do twice the state testing!
Anyway, I am finally trying to share some of the activities that I have created.  I am attempting to share PDF's of activities created for the first time, so I hope it works.  Let me know if any of my links do not work and I'll try again.
ELA6.2 (a)

Level 3
The student will be presented and read a teacher-generated paragraph that includes an unfamiliar multi-meaning word used in two different ways. The student will locate the multi-meaning word each time it is used in the paragraph. Using a reference material, the student will locate the definition for each way the multi-meaning word is used in the paragraph. The definitions will be read. The student will generate two sentences each using one of the meanings of the multi-meaning word.
Predetermined Criteria
1.The student will locate the multi-meaning word each time it is used in the paragraph.
2.The student will locate the definition for each way the multi-meaning word is used in the paragraph.
3.The student will generate two sentences each using one of the meanings of the multi-meaning word.
For this task, I had the student a picture dictionary for multi meaning words.  The student highlighted the multimeaning word in different paragraphs.  She then found the word in the dictionary, then created her own sentences.  Hope this is helpful:
A-Z dictionary - multi meaning version


ELA 7.2 (a)
Level 2
The student will be presented and read one unfamiliar word and three known words, one of which is an antonym to the unfamiliar word. Using a reference material, the student will identify the meaning of the unfamiliar word. The student will identify the antonym for the unfamiliar word. When presented with three sentences, the student will identify the sentence that uses the pair of antonyms correctly.
Predetermined Criteria
1.The student will identify the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
2.The student will identify the antonym for the unfamiliar word.
3.The student will identify the sentence that uses the pair of antonyms correctly.

For this standard, I created an antonym dictionary and several sentence strips using words sets of antonyms. Students learned to first locate the word in the dictionary.  They then practiced identifying the antonyms.  Last, I taught them to be able to identify the correct use of antonyms through matching the pictures from the dictionary to those in the sentence strips.
Here is the dictionary:
A-Z Dictionary antonym edition
Here are two sentence strips (I seem to have lost the others created, but will upload when I locate them)
Sentence strips - female and boy
Sentence Strips - mopey and happy


Now for homophones:
ELA 8.2
Level 2
The student will be presented three sentences. Each sentence will include a pair of homophones. As the sentences are read, the student will identify the two homophones in each sentence. The student will be presented six cards each representing the meaning of one homophone. Using the context of the three sentences, the student will match the cards to the homophones. The student will be presented a fourth sentence with two blanks that can be completed with two of the six existing homophones. The student will complete this sentence using any two of the six homophones.
Predetermined Criteria
1.The student will identify the homophones.
2.The student will match the cards to the homophones.
3.The student will complete this sentence using any two of the six homophones.

In this task, I used the picture dictionary, a homophone list, picture definition pieces and sentence strips.  I printed out the dictionary and stapled it together.  I printed out each sentence strip and put it onto tagboard.  I then affixed a strip of scratchy velcro across the bottom of the entire sentence.  After that, I put soft velcro on the arrow/box combo and on the back of each picture icon.
To identify the homophones the student had to place the box/arrow under the homophones.  They then had to choose the correct pictures to match the homophone meanings.
I have not taken a picture of the task in action, but will try to do so tomorrow.  Here is a link to the task:
Homophone Activity